Journal
NEURORADIOLOGY
Volume 51, Issue 7, Pages 457-465Publisher
SPRINGER
DOI: 10.1007/s00234-009-0523-x
Keywords
Carotid stenosis; Atherosclerosis; USPIO; MRI; Inflammation
Funding
- MRC [G0800480] Funding Source: UKRI
- Medical Research Council [G0800480] Funding Source: researchfish
- Medical Research Council [G0800480] Funding Source: Medline
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Ultrasmall superparamagnetic iron oxide (USPIO)-enhanced MRI has been shown to be a useful modality to image activated macrophages in vivo, which are principally responsible for plaque inflammation. This study determined the optimum imaging time-window to detect maximal signal change post-USPIO infusion using T-1-weighted (T(1)w), T-2*-weighted (T-2*w) and quantitative T-2* (qT(2)*) imaging. Six patients with an asymptomatic carotid stenosis underwent high resolution T(1)w, T-2*w and qT(2)* MR imaging of their carotid arteries at 1.5 T. Imaging was performed before and at 24, 36, 48, 72 and 96 h after USPIO (Sinerem (TM), Guerbet, France) infusion. Each slice showing atherosclerotic plaque was manually segmented into quadrants and signal changes in each quadrant were fitted to an exponential power function to model the optimum time for post-infusion imaging. The power function determining the mean time to convergence for all patients was 46, 41 and 39 h for the T(1)w, T-2*w and qT(2)* sequences, respectively. When modelling each patient individually, 90% of the maximum signal intensity change was observed at 36 h for three, four and six patients on T(1)w, T-2*w and qT(2)*, respectively. The rates of signal change decrease after this period but signal change was still evident up to 96 h. This study showed that a suitable imaging window for T(1)w, T-2*w and qT(2)* signal changes post-USPIO infusion was between 36 and 48 h. Logistically, this would be convenient in bringing patients back for one post-contrast MRI, but validation is required in a larger cohort of patients.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available